Day: February 23, 2018

In the world of The Handmaid’s Tale, there is a sex panic surrounding sex that is not for procreation, which exemplifies Rubin’s use of them term. Homosexual sex is explicitly forbidden, as is abortion and birth control, and the sex that is purely for procreation is lacking in intimacy; these restrictions against sex for reasons other than procreation is enforced militarily.

Asexuality complicates this because, in a society that is focused on sexual practices and desires, they lack sexual desires. Sex is central in the society of The Handmaid’s Tale; however, the citizens are not acting on sexual desires as much as societal obligation enforced by violence. Therefore, asexuality complicates this universe because asexuals don’t desire sex at all, meaning that although they would not be having sex for reasons other than procreation, it’s unlikely that they would be having sex for procreation either.

References

Rubin, Thinking Sex

Ela Przybylo, Introducing Asexuality, Unthinking Sex

 

Image retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4504744/Joseph-Fiennes-plays-rapist-Handmaid-s-Tale.html

This visual object exemplifies what Gayle Rubin terms “moral panic” because sexual offenders created a huge sex panic in which the media, policy makers, and activists all got involved (WITN.com, 2017). Sexual offenders are a group of people that pose a threat to societal values—one group being pedophiles. As depicted in this photograph, media coverage frames the problems of sexual predators in terms of morality and usually depicts well-known cases as outrageous.

Society catalogues both pedophiles and asexual people as abnormal on the basis of their sexual practices. Asexual people lack sexual desires and are then categorized as abnormal while pedophiles are committing sexual wrongdoings, which society detests.

References

Gayle Rubin, Thinking Sex

Ela Przybylo, Introducing Asexuality, Unthinking Sex

Supreme court strike law banning sex offenders on social media. (2017). WITN.Com, pp. 1-2.